The Riddlers Revenge Act 2
by Jade-Dusk
Summary: The Riddler is back to his old tricks, and a certain doctor has a few up his sleeve. Who will win the battle of wits? Read to find out.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors** Note: I'm BAAAACK! I hope you are all happy to hear from me again, this will be my second in the Riddler Series, and it will go without saying if you haven't read ACT 1, you better read that before this. Thanks to all my returning readers for sticking with me this far :D

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**Prologue**

Whistling contently, Edward Nigma walked through the building he had purchased over a year ago. It was an old steel mill, rusted and decrepit to perfection in his eyes. Looking around he marvelled at his own genius work.

His picture had been pasted around town for months, but thus far no one had found him. He walked right into a supermarket with his dark sunglasses and hat on, but no one recognized him. He felt a thrill out of being a wanted man in public. It wouldn't last long.

Edward had a one way ticket to Paris, and as soon as Dr. Sparrows had fallen for his death trap, his work was done. He could start over using his birth name, Edward Nashton. It was unlikely anyone would ever find him again, not with how well he planned things out.

All of his traps and riddles were put into place, and all he had to do was send out his invitation. If Dr. Sparrows didn't walk into his trap, which was highly unlikely in itself, he would come to the location Edward gave him. Instead he expecting the police to be notified. This, in Edwards opinion, would only prove that if people don't follow his instructions, more people will die.

People needed to understand he was a powerful man. Wanted, sure, but very powerful non-the-less. His plans had been in place for many years, and nothing was going to foil them. One way or another, Dr. Sparrows would meet his fate, and that he was sure of.

"You've got one day Nathan... if I don't get my apology I WILL be forced to put you through Hell." He smirked darkly.

**Chapter 1**

Batman and the police of Gotham City had searched every possible place they thought The Riddler was hiding. They hadn't had any luck, and they knew their time was running out. Dr. Sparrows had gone against a public apology feeling if he did that it would be similar to handing over all the credit to Edward Nigma for their project. He wasn't about to do that. He currently awaited the invitation as he had a plan for The Riddler.

It had been two months since Dr. Sparrows had recruited Eliza to The Siren Project. It had also been two months since anyone had heard from Eliza Davenport. Her picture had been posted around Gotham City, and everyone accused the Riddler of coming back for her. No one knew the truth at all.

Two months ago hung around in Eliza's mind like it was yesterday. She had gone to work excited to start the new job. It was easier returning to work, but on a new project where she didn't had to have the constant reminder of what had happened to her a few days prior.

She swiped her key card, and entered the building walking with her chin up a little more than usual. If she didn't keep positive her sadness and trauma would continue. She headed into the new research lab expecting her presentation on the new project. "Good morning Eliza." Dr. Sparrows smiled gently, his cleanly trimmed moustache stretched a bit as he smiled her at warmly.

"Hello Dr. Sparrows." She smiled approaching. "I'm ready to begin when you are."

"Wonderful," He gestured with one arm the projector board, and a single chair sitting before it. "Have a seat I'll get set up."

Eliza smiled and pushed up her rectangular glasses as she sat down eager to keep her mind busy. Dr. Sparrows set up the projector and stood by the front of the room with a clicker to change the slides. "Welcome to the Siren Project first and foremost. I thought up this idea several years ago, but only now is it coming together as it should be, thanks to you joining this team."

He clicked to the first slide which showed a police officer wielding a gun, and a statistics chart. "The percentage of fatal shootings from police officers in Gotham City per year is thirty percent. Our rate is much higher than most ratings in neighbouring cities. I wanted to change that number to zero."

Eliza watched with great intrigue as he switched to the next slide where a Greek rendition of a ship surrounded by several beautiful winged maidens in the water. "My idea stems from my love of mythology from when I was a kid. I was always fascinated by the idea of Siren's well into my high school days. I thought the premises of being able to hypnotize through song. To be able to use ones voice alone to stop another person instead of harming them then stemmed from this idea. It's something I've always wanted to experiment with."

Eliza smiled a bit looking over the beautiful painting on the screen. Turning to the next slide was a heading stating 'New Studies' then bullets below with points. "With a new study on supersonic vibrations that was more recently conducted in Germany a lot of new discoveries have been made. It has become more recently discovered that certain sound waves or vibrations have strong abilities on the nervous system, but until made, no one had ever known it was possible to affect people in such a way." He paused to change the slide showing more bullets, "One of the more interesting discoveries I'd like to focus on is the 'paralysis ocular' which was a discovery made by Dr. Sampras in Germany a few years past."

He switched to a new slide of a tazer gun. "Tazers have been a popular tool amongst police who have said it's more useful than a gun as it lowers the death rate. Still, some death's have occurred because of this, and Tazers require a closer range than a gun meaning someone could outrun them. We could replace this tazer idea with the 'paralysis ocular' once we get a proper grasp on it." Eliza stared very tuned into the presentation, the end of her pen between her teeth as she listened.

He switched to the next slide of a stick figure on its knees holding its oval head, "If we had the ability to give our trusted officers the ability to paralyze people with just the sound of an ocular, we could stop a lot more criminals without having to take harmful action."

He switched to a slide that simply said the words 'sonic boom' in bold black letters. "Another idea I considered attributing to this is something called a 'sonic boom' feature. If an officer is shocked on a surprise physical battle with an assailant, he might let out a yell before he can pull a punch, correct?" Eliza simply nodded pulling the pen from her mouth. "Well what if we added the 'sonic boom' feature that corresponds to a yell of surprise? or even a yell of pain? This feature would push back any assailant and give the officer time to paralyze the attacker."

Dr. Sparrows changed the slide to a picture of a collar, or rather the blue prints. "It's just a rough draft for now, but this is how I plan to distribute these abilities. Collars that when worn carry the ability to alter the human voice box. This would allow humans wearing the collar to hit oculars that aren't normally possible. This would cause the collars to become more lethal. The sonic boom we're still working heavily on, but it's a start at the very least." He smiled at her. before clicking to the next slide that said 'the end'.

Eliza watched as he clicked one more time, a single black question mark stared her in the face. "Any questions?"

She said silently, unable to speak for a moment. Dr. Sparrows looked at her confused before looking from her to the board. When it dawned on him the question mark was the sign of The Riddler in Eliza's eyes. He quickly hit the button one more time. "My apologies, I forgot what that particular character of punctuation meant for you."

Eliza shook her head swallowing a bit, "No, it's fine. I'm ok." She looked up at him softening her expression again.

"Well... I trust you got a good feel of what we'll be working with after that. What do you think?" He asked her curiously.

Eliza smiled a bit, "I love the idea. I think it'll be a big hit, and I agree, it'll stop a lot of death from happening. I'm happily on board with it."

Dr. Sparrows face brightened a bit more, "Excellent! For now, you may head back home, we will have a meeting this evening with the rest of the team, and hopefully we can get started on the creation of this collar."

Eliza stood up with a small smile, "Gladly. What time tonight?" She asked.

"Seven sharp. Not in this room, but down in the lower research labs. Laboratory twenty six." He explained.

Eliza nodded, "I'll be there. Thank you Dr. Sparrows." She pulled her bag over her shoulder and headed home very pleased and eager to work.

Dr. Sparrows watched her go with a small smile. Things were coming together for him, and at this rate, he'd have a weapon ready to use against The Riddler in no time at all. He smirked a bit.

At a quarter to seven Eliza parked her small black car in the underground parking lot before heading inside the elevator. She swallowed once the doors closed and looked around for cameras and torches sticking out of the panelling, but found none. Closing her eyes she took a moment to breathe. Looking to the key pad she pressed the button for the basement of the building where all the lower research labs were located.

The elevator submerged beneath the concrete of the parking lot, and she tried not to imagine the doors opening on a loaded submachine gun as best as she could. She stepped out of the elevator gladly once the doors opened. She headed down the long hallway and found room twenty six. She swiped her key card and entered the room to see Dr. Sparrows and Dr. Helm standing in the room, Dr. Helm poured a flute glass, the sound of fizzing excited her ears.

"Eliza, welcome." Dr. Sparrows smiled holding a flute filled with what appeared to be Champaign, "Get the door will you?" He asked.

Eliza turned and closed it not thinking much of the locking sound it made. She turned back to her boss and his assistant. "Well now that the guest of honour has finally arrived we can get down to business and then maybe down to some actual work." He chuckled a bit handing her a flute of her own. "Before we begin, I wanted to make a toast to my wonderful team of genius's."

Taking the flute curiously she smiled, "Without you two I don't think this dream of mine would have had even a slight shot of coming off the ground. Today is a day of change, and celebration. Cheers." Dr. Sparrows took a drink of his Champaign.

Dr. Helm the older man of few words who seemed to be greying by the day, took a sip from his flute before Eliza brought hers to her lips taking a drink from it. "Alright. First on the agenda. Let's look over the studies for the first prototype. Maybe we can determine where we succeeded and where we failed." Eliza took another drink of her Champaign trying to place the odd taste, halfway through her glass she still had no idea what the odd zing was, but it must have been a type she'd never been able to afford in the past.

Dr. Helm walked over to the collar placed out on the one counter. Eliza put down her flute on the counter and followed the two doctors over to the collar. "Oh, you've already made a collar? I thought you'd just started on this project?" She asked confused slightly.

On her walk over she felt one of her knees get a bit weak causing her to trip a bit, "Careful now." Dr. Sparrows warned.

"Sorry, I must be tired." she assured him as she looked at the collar resting on a silver trey.

The collar looked worn, and seemed rust coloured around the edging and the inner circle. Eliza noted the wiring in the back of the collar. "What is the wiring for Doctor?" Eliza asked grabbing her head slowly, she was beginning to see double.

"It's for implanting into your spine so the octaves reached don't paralyze you." Dr. Sparrows explained calmly.

"I thought it was removable?" She looked at him quickly noting her vision getting blurry, "Wait... me? My spine?"

"Why yes. I couldn't think of a better person to wear it for the first successful time. The other girls tested it out, but they weren't the right sort to wield such a weapon." Dr. Sparrows watched as her eyes rolled back and her knees gave out.

"W-What did you do to me?!" She shouted desperately trying to pick herself back up.

"I just gave you a strong sedative, but don't fight it, or you might hurt yourself." He watched her flounder on the floor.

Eliza's eyes gave one last blink before her entire body loosened and lie on her side on the floor. "Now, let the preparation begin Dr. Helm." He smiled to his comrade.

"It'll be a pleasure working on her." Dr. Helm smiled before leaning down to pick up the unconscious scientist.

"Set her in containment cell A. I still have to clean out the other cells." Dr. Sparrows casually drank his Champaign as Dr. Helm carried her off.

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Reviews? Questions? Comments?


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors** **Note:**Hello everyone, I'm glad to see some positive response to this story. I just wanted to say that my OC isn't really an OC. Fun fact: When I was a little girl I enjoyed the cheesey 60s batman with Adam West and I remember a particular episode that stuck with me. It involved 'Siren' a woman with the ability to produce a screeching sound several octaves higher than normal human capability that had stunning effects. I decided to take this character and revamp her and give her a real name. I hope you all like her, but I want to keep it clear that Mr. Nigma is my main focus in this story. It wouldn't be a story without him that's for sure. Please enjoy, and don't forget to drop me a review to tell me what you thought. I love my feedback :)

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**Chapter 2**

When Eliza came to she was lying in a bed with Velcro straps on her wrists. "Eliza, I'm glad to see you've finally woken up." Dr. Sparrows smiled at her with the same calmness he had during his presentation earlier in the day.

"No!" She screamed struggling.

"Calm Eliza, you're chosen for a very important project. You're going to be the first model of my new arsenal." He smiled excitedly.

"I don't want this! I want to go home! I'm a human being not an experiment!" She screamed out, already facing trauma from her previous ordeal at The Riddler's hands.

"Oh Eliza you won't feel a thing. I'll have you knocked out for the operation." Dr. Sparrows smiled at her.

"Operation? No, please don't do this." She shook uncontrollably, still struggling with her arm and leg restraints.

"It won't be until tomorrow morning, so you have plenty of time to rest up." He said softly.

"What are you going to do to me? You aren't putting that collar on me are you?!" Eliza panted as her anxiety attack continued.

"Not only am I putting it 'on' you, Eliza, I plan to make it one with you. Irremovable. From now one, one scream and you can send a three hundred pound man flying through the air like a pebble. One high pitched octave, and you can paralyze a mass of people. Doesn't that sound exciting?"

"Stop this! I don't want it! I just want to go back to the life I had before all this Riddler bullshit!" She snapped angrily.

"Ah, ah. You don't agree with it now, but soon enough you'll see it from my point of view." He promised with a smile. "You're much luckier than the other girls that were before you..."

"...Other girls? What are you saying?" She asked nearly breathless from her struggles; she paused looking at him for a moment.

Dr. Sparrows walked to her left towards the thick Plexiglas of her cell. "Miss Marian Crestfield was a good prototype to test for the final bugs, but she wasn't as worthy to carry the collar as you are." He gestured to the room next to her she could see nearly clearly into her.

A girl half rotting in the next cell over stared over at her with lifeless blue eyes, The skin on her neck removed where the collar once sat, showing the muscles and veins. Eliza screamed wide eyes struggling more, "No! You monster you killed that girl!" She shook violently overcome with fear, anger and a loss of sanity for the moment.

"The girl before her was even less lucky, the operation had damaged her spinal cord rendering her numb from the shoulders down. She spent her last days screaming, testing the full potential of the sonic boom." Dr. Sparrows spoke of her as if she wasn't even a person.

"The poor woman... she was a person you know!? A person with feelings, dreams a life, and family, friends!" She shouted tears now streaming their way down her face.

"Yes, it's very sad, but we've learned plenty from her contribution to the project. She won't be forgotten." He said calmly.

"What are you going to do with me? Keep testing until I die?" She asked, she had to know despite not wanting to know.

"Of course not Eliza. Test time is over. You're the final product. Once surgery is over you'll have recovery time before you start your next task." Dr. Sparrows informed her, very honestly.

"Why me? What use could I possibly be to you?" She shivered staring up at him with angry green eyes.

"Well for starters, you made it out of The Riddler's death trap. Only you out of four of you made it out alive. This says to me you have an understanding on how to beat him." Dr. Sparrows explained.

"I don't know how to beat him, I just know I made it out alive, and I was very lucky in doing so." She admitted.

"You will know soon enough. You'll have the tools to stop him. Your brain should get you out of any deathly situation he has planned for me, and your operation will give you all you need to stun him long enough to kill him." Dr. Sparrows informed her casually.

"No... you can't be... you're suggesting when he looks for you, you'll send me instead? No, you can't make me do that! Once you give me that operation I'll be unstoppable, and I won't stop until you're unable to hurt anyone ever again!" She screamed at him angrily.

"It's alright Eliza. Until you come around, I have a way of keeping you from disobeying." He told her.

"What do you mean?" Eliza stared mortified.

"All in good time miss Davenport. Or should I say 'Siren'. I'll see you again at nine in the morning for your operation." He smiled pleased with the situation.

He headed out the glass door of her cell locking it behind him. "No! Come back here! Don't leave me here!" She screamed writing again in the bed.

Looking to her left again she saw the dead girls cold eyes staring back at her. Her eyes watered, and she began to sob, watching the digital clock on the wall, in eight hours she'd be undergoing her operation. She felt her body go numb, and her stomach felt like it had a brick in it. Eliza was trapped. Their were no means of escape. This was it. She would be altered irreversibly.

Secretly she prayed Edward would look for him early. She hoped he was impatient and intended to deal his dues quickly. Maybe then she'd stand a chance? It was unlikely, but she held the hope in her mind regardless.

The sleepless night ahead was long, and painful as she knew her fate, and was unable to stop it. She thrashed about every few hours out of frustration. Their was no way her body would relax for her to sleep, not that she wanted to waste a moment in her current state.

Eliza's wrists and ankles were an angry red beneath the restraints from all the struggling, but she could hardly focus on pain as adrenaline shot through her body. Her chest was tight, and she struggled to breathe. Every few minutes she looked at the clock counting down the very seconds before her operation.

As the time drew closer she felt her chest tighten harder. Once eight forty-five came she waited in silence staring at the ceiling thinking of her previous life back home in Michigan. She wanted to see her family again. Eliza wasn't entirely sure she ever would see them again. When the door of her cell opened up she glanced up tensing her entire body.

She realized Dr. Helm was staring at her holding a mask, and what seemed to be knockout gas. "Miss Davenport. It's time."

"No, please you don't have to do this." She begged knowing her words meant nothing to him, but she had to say them anyway just to tell herself she tried all she could to get out.

Dr. Helm seemed like an emotionless drone as he approached her. Eliza struggled more and more despite the rub burns on her limbs. "No! Stop!" she screamed out, her attempts futile.

Dr. Helm held the gas mask to her face struggling to keep her still, "Stop struggling!" He ordered.

Eliza tried not to breathe, but it was impossible to will her exhausted body to do such a thing. "You'll be asleep soon, just breathe in the gas."

Her wide eyes searched around the room desperately before the gas finally began taking its toll. He eyes fluttered shut despite all her resisting, and she fell into a deep sleep. Without wasting time Dr. Helm took the mask off her face and undid the Velcro on her arms and legs.

He pulled in the wheelchair and managed to get Eliza into the chair fairly easily before wheeling her down the hallway to her operation.

**Review? Thoughts? Questions?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors** Note: Hey everyone, sorry for the long absence. I'm not sure who is still reading but I have more for you!

**Chapter 3**

Eliza spent a month recovering from her operation. It was a painful process healing considering she "wouldn't feel a thing," according to Dr. Sparrows. Dr. Sparrows managed to put a collar around her neck just above her permanent collar.

"This is for your own good Eliza. With this, you won't be able to attack me. It's a shock collar; if you try to harm me I'll shock you with it. I don't want to have to do that, so please be a good girl and just let your body heal."

Her mental state was clouded. She spent most days staring at the ceiling. Her eyes were nearly always watery. She was moments from crying as most days the pain was almost too much to bear. Her throat felt like it was on fire, and she was sure she could feel the pain from where the collar hooked into her spine.

Mostly Dr. Helm kept her sedated, but as her injuries healed more and more he had her on painkillers. She became more conscious, and Dr. Sparrows left her some books to read. She didn't touch them; she refused to accept any sort of comfort from the man who just stripped away part of her life.

Eliza finally stood up on her own a month and a week after she was out of her operation. She wanted out, banging on the glass she attempted to break it. Standing back for a moment she began to scream, despite the pain she managed to get out a sonic boom. Moments after the glass shattered on her cell she felt a searing pain like someone was electrocuting her neck. She fell to her knees unable to stand as the jolts affected her.

"Eliza! I told you to be good or I'd use the collar!" He scolded her for the first time since she got there.

She couldn't speak, she simply panted heavily on the floor shocked by not only the collar, but her new abilities. They actually seemed to work. Dr. Sparrow seemed to calm down after a moment. "You're still healing, it's probably a bad idea for you to even attempt to be talking let alone screaming."

"Shut up..." Her voice was the epitome of raw and painful.

"I'm just trying to help you heal. No need to be so rude." He chastised as if she were his child.

The rest of the week went by fairly slowly, and it wasn't until the following week Eliza was allowed out of the cell. She had to follow Dr. Sparrow around the basement level. It seemed no one was looking for her around the lab despite how long she had been missing; regardless she tried to hold onto some hope that someone would.

Eliza sat with him in his basement office. She sat across from his desk in one of the provided black leather chairs. She stared through him angrily. She wanted to hit him with anything she could find, she wanted to yell and scream at him, but if he pushed the button she knew she couldn't handle the pain again. Dr. Sparrow seemed content as he hummed softly while he wrote up some documents on the computer on his desk.

Suddenly he stopped humming and squinted with confusion. The blue light on his webcam turned on all by itself. "What...? This isn't right..."

With great confusion Eliza watched him attempt to close the box that just came up on his computer. He grumbled in frustration. "I think we have a hacker here..."

Glancing at the remote for her collar she noted he put it down next to his hand. She was about to jump for it when she heard a familiar voice that froze her in her chair; all the hair on her body began to rise with goose bumps. "Greetings Dr. Sparrow. You're looking frustrated."

Edward typed away on his computer. His entire desk was made up of three computers, and at least fifteen monitors. He had a clear view of every nook and cranny of the steel mill. He was fairly pleased with himself. He leaned back in his chair crossing his arms comfortably behind his head as he rested his dress shoe-clad feet on the desk.

"Edward, you are a genius... he'll never manage to make it through your death trap. You've won already..." He smiled contentedly, glancing at his own face on the monitor depicting his webcam of himself.

He thought about his last death trap. The apartment had gone up in flames, and the bodies had been removed from the scene by some very helpful hired hands that would do anything for generous amounts of drug money. They were rather shocked when they only had to move three bodies instead of the fourth they were instructed originally.

It still angered him that one rat in the maze had managed to make it out. Never the less he made sure his next maze was more lethal and harder to survive. Dr. Sparrow had made no move to apologize publicly, giving Edward slightly more satisfaction than if he had.

How he wanted to demean that man for what he did to him. Nathan Sparrows had to understand, you don't treat a genius like a heap of garbage; you treat them like a god instead. He would learn, oh he wasn't going to like a minute of that rat trap. Edward was living for the moment Sparrows began his journey through.

Looking at the clock he knew it was close to the end of the work day at Wayne Tec labs. He figured he had better extend his invitation before it was too late.

Edward adjusted his black rectangular wire framed glasses and set his hat on top of his slightly overgrown head of hair. "Looking good..." He said to himself as he adjusted his clothes in the web cam screen.

When he was satisfied that his suit was in perfect condition he held his cane between his knees and began hacking into the Wayne Tec mainframe, looking for Dr. Sparrows' computer. It was likely by this time of day he could catch him writing up reports as he had always done when he worked there. "I knew it..." He smirked a bit as he hacked into his computer and turned on his webcam.

Edward watched as Dr. Sparrows tried to figure out what was going on. "Greetings Dr. Sparrow. You're looking frustrated." He smirked resting his hands on his question mark-shaped gold cane.

Dr. Sparrow stared back at him, seemingly unafraid. "Good evening Mr. Nigma. I trust you have business with me or you wouldn't have tried so hard to reach me... were you afraid to call in case I traced it?" He taunted slightly.

"No doubt it would be traced. At least on this end I have the control. If you do something I don't like I can crash your computer to an irreversible state. You might want to start playing by my rules." Edward looked at him smugly.

"Alright Edward. I'll humour you." He nodded. "Now what is it you want to talk about?"

Eliza was stiff in her chair, gripping the armrests for dear life; just listening to his voice sent her into panic. Her chest tightened and she had trouble breathing once again as she listened to her former captor speak.

"Well, I was hoping that since you refused to admit publicly that you were wrong to steal my work and fire me, you would man up and face my challenge." He said simply.

"I owe you no such apology, but sure, I'll gladly accept your challenge." Dr. Sparrows informed him.

"On the contrary... you owe me, Dr. Sparrows, and I _will_ see to it you pay dearly.

Dr. Sparrows ignored him. "What is the challenge?" He asked.

"It's a maze of course... just like your precious neurology team went through. Such a pity the only one to survive is missing... but you wouldn't know anything about that would you?" He mocked, suspecting Sparrows to be behind it.

"You're the one who took her Mr. Nigma. You tell me." Dr. Sparrows lied through his teeth.

Eliza felt her fear slipping as anger took over. "No, no, no doctor. I didn't take her, I let her go. Why would _I_ lie? You on the other hand... you have plenty to be lying about don't you?" Edward asked smugly.

"Where is this location?" Dr. Sparrows ignored him for a second time for lack of a better response.

"It's eighty-seven Klaxon Drive. It's the old steel mill, you remember where that is don't you Doctor?" He asked curiously.

"Yes, I'm familiar with it." Dr. Sparrows nodded looking him over.

"Wonderful! Tomorrow night at eight o'clock sharp I expect to see you there. If you call the police on me you're going down with me. I've managed to download all those files you have on your computer. That Siren Project sounds pretty interesting... I'm sure the police will agree Doctor." He laughed.

Dr. Sparrows looked momentarily mortified. "How did you access those?"

"Oh simple... I'm a genius. Eight o'clock Doctor. Don't keep me waiting." Without another word the camera feed stopped and Dr. Sparrows web cam turned off.

"If I'm in those files, he's going to know what you're up to you know." Eliza looked at him pointedly.

"You're not in them. The past experiments, however, are..." Dr. Sparrows rubbed his face a bit, "No matter, he's not going to be around much longer."

Eliza looked at the floor sadly, "You're going to send me to kill him... that or he'll kill me in the process and come for you later..." She looked up at him.

"You won't die, I'm sure of it. Your mission will be simple, get through his maze, tell him you want to meet him in person, and then kill him. Say or do whatever you have to Eliza..." Her boss ordered.

"What if I don't?" Eliza asked.

"If you don't follow orders or if you don't succeed? If you don't follow orders I'll still be able to use the shock collar on you, and I might not let go of the button if you _really_ refuse me. As for you succeeding, I can't see why not. He's predictable at this point surely." He looked at her.

"Why can't you just do it yourself? You don't know the answers do you?" She asked him.

"Not only that, but I'm not about to risk myself. Rule number one, you always look out for number one." He looked at her intently.

"How would you know if I wasn't following orders? You wouldn't dare show your face there." She glared.

"I'll be giving you an earpiece that will constantly let me hear everything you're doing or saying. I'll also be able to track you from there." He explained.

That was it, there was no escape; she truly was trapped. Edward would have a round two, and there was no doubt in her mind he'd win. He'd relish in it in fact. She didn't like what he'd put her through, but admittedly, it wasn't nearly as torturous as what Dr. Sparrow was doing to her. She didn't want to kill Edward; she wanted him to serve time in prison instead. Dr. Sparrow she'd much rather murder with her bare hands at the current point in time.

"I see..." Eliza looked down.

"Let's head back to your cell, you'll need your rest. Also, you'll likely want to try on your outfit." Dr. Sparrows looked at her in her patient T-shirt night dress that went to her knees.

Eliza stood up without much other option, "Outfit?"

"Ah, yes. I think you'll rather like it. I had it made for you so you are much more lethal. I'll show you." He led her to her cell, and opened a locked cabinet in the hallway before bringing in her new outfit complete with combat boots.

The outfit was a black cat suit. "Why this?" She looked very confused.

"The arms are specially made to expand into wings once you press on the button right here in your collar." He pointed to a button that could pass as a regular silver button. "I wouldn't expand them in here though, they're large wings meant to help you fly. You won't need this now, but just to be safe, I want you fully prepared for when you see Mr. Nigma again."

Eliza looked at him with the natural look of disgust she always held for him since her operation. "Fine."

"Get some rest; you have a big day tomorrow." Dr. Sparrows smiled before leaving her room, the remote for her collar in hand.

Eliza sat on the bed and looked at her outfit. "Let's see if I can survive a second time..."


	4. Chapter 4

**Authors Note:**Hey everyone! I'm happy some of you still follow this, and I'll continue to keep posting for you guys :) I hope you have an excellent day, and don't drink and drive!

Sitting in the back of Dr. Helm's vehicle with the child lock on, Eliza stared out the window taking one last look at the city she'd likely never see again. She watched as Dr. Helm pulled up to the old steel mill, and released the lock. "Go on now. Do your duties." The older man in his 50's ordered her.

Eliza leered at him before exiting the vehicle. The industrial area had very few people walking around, and the likeliness of them reporting her being seen there was very slim, about as slim as them even recognizing her in the first place. Looking at the front doors of the steel mill she took in a deep breath.

"Are you inside?" Dr. Sparrows asked in her ear.

"I'm going in now." She said as she opened the doors and headed inside.

"Good, now...en...I... wa ...t you... t..." She jiggled the device in her ear as it began to fuzz out.

"Hello?" She asked, wondering what the interference was.

When she heard silence, not even static from being on the line with someone she felt a bit of panic. The locks on the doors sounded behind her, and looking up she noticed a camera and a T.V. screen pointed towards her.

The T.V. screen changed from an image of a question mark to Edward Nigma looking quite unamused. "Fancy meeting you here..." He mumbled, raising a brow as if to ask if she was crazy for being there. "I take it Dr. Sparrows was lacking the courage required to show up here himself. It figures he would send you."

"Yes, Dr. Sparrows sent me as his stand-in instead." Eliza replied, uncertain as to what happened to her signal with Dr. Sparrows.

"I see he used not only a tracking device but a headset for our little game today. He must not realize a man as intellectual as I would have thought about every possible scenario. I've disabled his little toys." Edward explained, rather impressed by himself.

"So... Dr. Sparrows can't hear me then?" Eliza looked up at the screen hopefully.

"No. He can't." Edward said to her simply.

Eliza looked at him for a moment on the monitor before licking her slightly dry lips. "This is a long shot, but I have to ask..." He looked at her a little more intrigued, "Dr. Sparrows sent me here to kill you." She said flatly.

"Why am I not surprised? Perhaps I already suspected this the moment you walked in the door." He looked at her. "What does make me curious is why you'd admit to that."

"What you put me through two months ago... it was hellish. I'm still recovering from it, but regardless I have no intention of killing you over it. I do have a proposal for you, if you'd be willing." She spoke to him as respectfully as possible, knowing she was the rat in _his_ maze.

"I'm listening." He said calmly, expecting her to beg for him to spare her life.

She touched the lock on her neck. "This is a shock collar. He's got the remote. He could press this at any time, and render me in a LOT of pain. This is how he's controlling me." She then pointed to the siren collar below it, "This is new technology he's put together with Dr. Helm. He used me as the test subject. I spent over a month in agony recovering from an operation I never consented to. He's using me like a puppet... he used you like one too. I remember, and I won't soon forget it. You and I understand each other. We both hate that man for what he's done to us."

Edward cocked his head with a bit of a smirk. "First of all, you couldn't possibly understand it from my point of view, but I'll let that go for now. However," He watched the determination in her eyes noting the fire that wasn't there last time they spoke, "you're suggesting we work together... what an interesting turn of events."

"I don't care what you do to him. I'm willing to give him right to you after all this bullshit... all I'm asking is that you help me get this shock collar off my neck, and let me walk." She said to him.

"Let you walk... I believe I've already done that once, have I not?" He looked at her, an amused smirk playing on his face. "You expect me to extend that courtesy twice? You must be joking."

Eliza stared up at the monitor and nodded a bit. "All right. Here's the proposal: If I get through your death trap, then you let me help you get him. If I die, then you win. You win either way."

Edward made a thinking motion with his hand before smiling darkly at her. "You know... I think I'll agree to that proposal, assuming you can make it through my maze."

Eliza nodded. "If you're good to your word, then I thank you."

"You do realize either way I can get Sparrows... it just might be more interesting if he thinks he's won." The Riddler laughed, greatly amused as she nodded. "Let the games begin. Last time you got multiple choice questions for most of it... you will have no such option this time. If you fail, there will be consequences." With that the monitor turned off. The door before her was spray painted in acid green; it greeted her with "Welcome."

Her life would never be the same again regardless of whether or not she survived. She had to at least try, and Edward agreeing to her proposal was the most hope she'd had in months. Opening the door she looked around, her chest tightened, but after her months as a captive of her boss she felt her sense of fear diminishing.

The room she walked into was large, and many types of heavy machinery were running inside. She found it disturbing to say the least. There was a TV and a camera hanging above in the middle of the room, but only a question mark stood on the screen. There were no riddles anywhere in the room that she could see, but the door across the room from her had a '3' sprayed on it in the familiar acid green paint she was becoming accustomed to.

To her right was a door with '2' sprayed on it, and to the left was a door that had '1' sprayed on it. "At least I know where to start..." She decided approaching a table in the middle of the room.

The table had several random items on it ranging from hammers and screw drivers to pencils, duct tape, a coin and matches and even a meter stick. She decided to take a hammer with her; at least if she had some sort of defence she'd feel a bit better.

Heading over to the first door she headed through it stopping short the moment she saw a gun pointed at her from on the wall. Looking at the floor she noticed a device on the wall that served as a monitor for if anyone passed by it. It was hard to tell if crawling under it would work or not, but she didn't want to risk it. Stepping over it was impossible.

The detector was most likely attached to the gun. "Oh, you've got to be kidding..." She looked across the room to the pin pad that was sitting next to the gun. It was flashing "Password?" repeatedly.

"How the hell do I get past this?" She asked slightly frustrated noticing a camera in the corner staring at her.

"Oh come on now, you're a smart girl. I'm sure you can figure this out without my help." Edward belittled over the speaker.

Eliza sighed and turned around looking at the door. The code '6337' was painted on the door. At least she had the code, she thought as she headed back to the main room. There had to be something she could use out there. On the table she glanced over its contents once more; did he want her to make something?

She needed something to reach the keypad. Grabbing the meter stick she was about to head back to the door before pausing. She looked over the end of the stick, knowing pressing the buttons on the key pad would be difficult without something narrower to point with. Eliza turned back to the table and grabbed the black sharpie marker and began duct taping it to the end.

When Eliza was sure the marker wouldn't wiggle off the meter stick she headed back to the door. She double checked the code on the door before carefully reaching over the sensor device. She managed to poke the code into the machine, carefully disarming the gun. The sensor light went off and the gun dropped its nose toward the floor. Eliza swiped her hand past the sensor, testing for any movement before letting out a sigh of relief.

Peeking around the corner, she noted to the right was a long hallway with four doors along the left wall. She looked around for riddles in the hallway but found none. She decided to check all of the doors carefully, knowing the wrong move could be her last move.

The first door was the only door that was unlocked; the others had computers beside each door. She guessed this would come in handy later. Passing through the doorway her eyes fell upon the first riddle written on the wall.

**Reviews? Comments? Concerns? Complaints? I'm all ears!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Authors Note:**I'm glad to see so many followers! I'm happy everyone is liking this story so much! Well I won't delay you any longer, here's some more :D

**Chapter 5**

The room was entirely blank aside from a steel work bench and a chair in the corner of the room. On the wall across from her was the riddle she'd been awaiting. She read it silently: If you break me I do not stop working, if you touch me I may be snared, if you lose me nothing will matter. What am I?

She had to admit, they seemed like they were a bit harder without the luxury of multiple choice, but she was determined to figure it out. "What can you break that doesn't stop working?" She muttered looking at the floor thoughtfully.

The camera on the wall watched her, and she knew his eyes were all over her as she struggled to come up with an answer. It made her thoughts jumble together just knowing he was there. She had to prove herself, and this was the only way to do so in his eyes. She would do it.

"If you lose me nothing will matter... what does that even mean?" She thought about it for a moment.

"It's something that works... something mechanical perhaps..." She muttered aloud. "Surely not a clock, if you lose a clock it doesn't mean nothing will matter..."

She imagined the ticking of a clock in her head for a moment before she heard the sound of her own impatient heart beat in her ears. She gripped her chest for a moment, "If you break a heart it doesn't stop working. If you lose your heart you're dead, so of course nothing would matter. It's heart!" She shouted aloud looking around for somewhere to input the information.

Eliza remembered the computers outside. She went to the second door in the hallway inputting the answer into it and pressing enter. The word 'success' popped up on the screen and the door next to her unlatched.

That wasn't so bad she thought. It was a bit more thinking than last time, but the answers likely wouldn't take long to come to her. Entering the second door she looked around noting little question marks were sprawled out along the walls, and her riddle was painted on the floor. The doors closed behind her as she entered, but she gave it very little thought.

Kneeling down to get a better look she read the riddle out loud. "If you've got it you want to share it, if you share it you haven't got it. What am I?" She cocked her head to the side looking at it.

"Is he for real? This one is really easy..." She stood up and headed back to the door noting the door had locked itself behind her.

Their was a monitor and a keyboard next to the door, and it seemed she had to do another riddle to make her way out of the room. Looking at the screen she stood for a few minutes trying to think, " How many eggs can you put in an empty basket?" She read aloud.

The riddle didn't make much sense. Her mind ventured through all the possibilities of such an act. First of all, it didn't say how big the basket was, and their was no particular number people put in baskets.

Suddenly she sighed with a bit of annoyance at how simple the answer really was. She typed in the answer '1'. The monitor said 'success' but the door refused to open. It was then she heard his voice again on the speaker. "Explain your answer, no one would have gotten that." He was annoyed at her again.

"If their are already eggs in the basket it isn't empty. The moment you put one egg inside it's no longer empty." She explained to him.

The door unlocked and it appeared he didn't have anything more to say to her. He couldn't accuse her of cheating, she had no way of doing so.

Eliza made her way to the third door in the hallway. She remembered the answer to her origional riddle for this door, " If you've got it you want to share it, if you share it you haven't got it. That's easy Edward, a secret." She typed it in watching the door open up for her.

Inside the room was a desk and a computer, it was turned on. Eliza walked in slowly worried the door was going to close on her. When they didn't she relaxed. Sitting at the desk she looked at the computer. On the screen was a password bar, above it said " What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?" She read aloud furrowing her brows.

Rereading it she examined the words very carefully. "once in a minute, twice in a moment, but not in a thousand years..." She whispered thoughtfully.

She clicked the 'hint' button out of curiosity. On the screen flashed, 'stop trying to cheat, I already know you aren't as smart as me.' She sighed a bit and continued looking at the words. When she was about ready to give up she noted something important, "Theirs one 'm' in minute, but two in 'moment'. None in 'a thousand years' at all...So could that be it?" She wasn't entirely sure but it was her best guess.

Entering it into the system her riddle for the next door appeared. "I have a head but no arms, I have a tail but no legs. I am not alive but I help people survive, what am I?" She read aloud.

She stood up and headed to the next computer contemplating the riddle in her head for a moment. Eliza placed her hands on the keyboard and thought about it for a moment. She typed in her first thought 'coin', and pressed enter.

The door swung open and Eliza looked around for her next riddle only to find a room that was empty save for a large vending machine. She stared at it for a moment noticing their was an envelope in the one slot, F4. "Alright... I guess this means I need to get a coin..." She headed back down the hallway and back to the main room where the table sat in the middle.

She looked over the tables contents again realizing he had out more items than she'd likely ever even use. The motive was to throw her off, she was sure of that much. Eliza spotted the silver quarter and picked it up. "Let's finish this hallway..." She said to herself.

Passing the gun again carefully she was still rather leery of it. When it didn't start firing at her she walked back into the room at the end of the hallway. Placing the coin in the slot of the vending machine she punched in the code for the envelope and watched it fall into the pick-up slot.

Opening the envelope she noticed a key was inside of it. The key was for the padlock in the main room as it was labelled '2' on the key tag. Eliza walked back down the hallway, still minding the gun on the wall, heading to the main room once again.

Eliza paused and looked up at the T.V. screen noting it showed Edward with his fingers clasped together holding the question mark cane as he watched her. "Very good miss Davenport. I have my doubts Dr. Sparrows would have even made it that far." Even his compliments sounded mocking.

"Thank you." She said staring up at him.

"As my little maze continues you'll notice it gets harder and harder to win. I hope you brought your A-game miss Davenport." He smirked, "Cheers." The screen went back to the question mark logo.

Eliza made her way over to the door she had to enter next and unlocked the padlock. The moment the lock was off the doors creaked open slowly.

**Reviews? Comments? Concerns? **


	6. Chapter 6

**Authors Note: Welcome back to the next chapter! I am super excited! I hope you are too!**

**Chapter 6**

When the doors opened Eliza was met with wires that hung in her way. She reached out to move one but jolted back when she felt the shock. "Ow!" She screamed out stumbling backwards.

"Careful now... don't get burnt." Edward taunted.

Eliza hissed with pain at the speaker box he spoke out of before looking around the hallway for some sort of panel. Their was nothing for her to turn off from afar, and their was nothing for her to aim for. Eliza wondered what to do as the wires would hurt her too much to pass them by carelessly.

Heading to the main room she looked over her table again. Rubber gloves were what she had in mind, but there were none in sight. The more she looked at the table the more frustrated she got. She could snip the wires with the sheers, but they'd electrocute her without any proper protection.

"Great... no rubber gloves... just metal sheers. I'm going to get killed if I try this..." She looked around desperately before noticing the electrical panel on the wall. She approached it carefully and opened it curiously. Pulling the leaver she switched off the breaker that had a '2' marked beside it in Edwards writing.

Looking over she noted the hallway was in darkness. She took the time to take the sheers and cut the wires. She looked at her handy work finding it more of an annoying diversion than anything else.

The next hallway had seven rooms to choose from. The one that was unlocked was her first choice. Heading inside of the first room she froze for a moment. Their was a riddle on the floor and three holes in the walls. 'road', 'water' and 'silk' were written above each hole.

She sunk to her knees as the memory of Kevin getting his arm ripped off rushed into her mind. It was overwhelming. Eliza let out a stifled sob and covered her face with a shaky hand. That was the first time she'd seen anyone get murdered before her. The others followed.

It was questionable as to why she was reacting now, but it was logical to assume her mind was over-worked and close to its breaking point. After a moment she wiped her eyes and stood up. She didn't have time to mourn or feel sorry for herself. She had riddles to solve, and a madman to stop.

Looking down at the riddle on the floor she read it silently: Runs smoother than any rhyme, loves to fall but cannot climb! What is it?

She looked back at her options. "Not silk..." She muttered before looking to the 'road' option. "Roads just don't fall, so it makes no sense... it has to be water." She decided.

Approaching the hole slowly she looked inside curiously. A USB stick was in the back of the hole. Her entire body trembled as she slowly reached into the hole and pulled out the tiny metallic item. Once it was pulled from the hole she looked down at it, her arm in tact was confirmation her choice was right.

She let out a mortified scream as the steel blade came down at the other holes closing them up. The wall cracked with the force of her scream sending her flying backwards to the floor. "God damn it..." She cursed, covering her mouth she let herself breathe a bit.

"How did you do that?" Edward asked both intrigued and confused.

"It's this collar he put on me... it can do things..." She stood up slowly, "We'll talk about it if I survive..." She didn't want to talk about it at all in fact.

Her shaking form exited the room. The hallway had six computers. It was similar to the previous hallway behind her first door. With lack of any logical option Eliza placed the USB stick in the computer beside the next door.

The computer seemed to unlock with the insertion of the USB drive, the door beside it clicked unlocked. Inside the next room the Riddle was sprayed on the wall: I am always hungry, I must always be fed. The finger I touch, will soon turn red.

The door locked behind her and she jumped. "Not this again!" Looking around she noted the emptiness of the room, but the floor was covered in what smelled like gasoline.

Turning back to the door she saw the next riddle on the door. "What is it that you can keep after giving it to someone else?" She looked around nervously noting their was a high possibility their was a flame somewhere if gasoline was all over the floor. "Um... uh..." She stuttered thinking in overdrive as her fear of being burnt alive began to kick into high voltage.

Suddenly the answer sprung to her mind as she thought up common sayings. "Your word!" She looked around nervously, "Where do I input that information?" She looked around for the intercom on the wall.

Edward let out an amused laugh over the speaker sending a chill up her spine. "You know my original plan for this room consists of complete darkness, and Sparrows running around looking for riddles with a match in his hand, but as I don't want this entire place burning up without him just yet... I decided to spare you once more. You may thank me now." The speaker cut out, and the door remained locked.

Staring at the speaker, her heart beat quickly as she tried to calm down. "...Thank you." She said, and then the door unlocked granting her access back to the hallway.

Heading to the next computer she input the word 'fire' into the machine watching it beeped happily before unlocking the door next to her. Walking inside she noted the door locked behind her and the sound of a clock ticking sounded. How long did she have? What would her death be if she failed?

Looking around the room she noticed on the left wall was the riddle she was looking for. " Until I am measured, I am not known, but oh how you miss me once I have flown. What am I?" She read aloud.

"Time..." She looked around looking for somewhere to input the information but the only thing in the room with her was a clock on the wall and a chair.

The door didn't open at her answer which meant their was a mechanism in the room somewhere, luckily she already suspected where it was. Pulling the chair over to the wall she stood on it to reach the clock. Pulling the cover off she noted one of the arms was really a sharp pick-like object Edward had clearly attached to the clock.

Yanking it down she noted their was engraving on one side of the pick, she ignored this for now and shoved the pick in the oddly shaped keyhole of the door before twisting it. When the door unlocked she headed back into the hallway. "Wait a minute... I have nothing to input into the computer..." She furrowed her brows.

Looking at the pick she noticed 'G734' was engraved on the side of the pick. She decided to input that hoping it would work. To her great surprise the door opened easily. Walking inside she was slightly relieved when the door didn't snap closed behind her.

The room had a small metal desk, a stapler, some random papers, and a chair. She looked around for a spray painted riddle but saw nothing. Approaching the desk she leafed through the papers. Nothing. She moved the door to see if the riddle was hidden behind there only to see chipped grey paint.

"What the hell?" She furrowed her brows moving back into the hallway.

Nothing was written out there either, but she had to look anyhow. "Mr. Nigma? What are you up to?" She asked standing in the middle of the room very confused.

"I'm not 'up' to anything..." He chuckled a bit before the speaker turned off again.

Eliza raised a brow noticing he put a lot of emphasis on the word 'up'. She tilted her head upwards and felt her shoulders relax a bit as the riddle was written on the ceiling above the door. " It is greater than God and more evil than the devil. The poor have it, the rich need it and if you eat it you'll die. What is it?"

The riddle seemed to be easy to figure out as the answer was exactly the state she had walked in on. Nothing out of place, nothing at all. "Nothing... that's it." She said heading out of the room to the next computer; she typed in the word and watched the next door unlock.

Eliza noticed the riddle was written on the floor with a little box around it. "The man who invented it doesn't want it. The man who bought it doesn't need it. The man who needs it doesn't know it. What is it?"

The box around the riddle was a clue; she deduced that much already. "Hmm... something invented that someone doesn't want.. it must hold a purpose... but how would you not know if you're using something...?" She chewed her lip for a moment before an idea came to mind. "...unless you're dead."

Exiting the room she walked to the next computer typing 'Coffin' in the box. Once she hit enter the computer beeped, and the final room opened up to her. Walking inside she looked around noticing the riddle sprayed on the wall next to a tacky Zebra poster that was hiding behind Plexiglas, and screwed into the wall.

'What driver doesn't have a licence?' was sprayed on the wall. Glancing from the writing to the awkward zebra cartoon she tried to make the connection between the two. They didn't connect at all. The zebra wasn't driving anything, he was standing in tall cartoon grass staring at her with large googly blue eyes.

"This doesn't make sense..." She decided to ignore the zebra and attempt to make sense of the riddle by itself.

She thought about all the vehicles for several minutes. Their was no vehicle that didn't require a licence of some sort of drive. It must have been a trick question. She glanced back at the zebra poster and looked at how it was adhered to the wall. Screws. A screwdriver could remove- that was it!

Eliza rushed back to the main room and found the table again. The yellow handled screw driver sat waiting for her to take it with her. Eliza grabbed it and rushed back to the final room in hallway number two. She began unscrewing the tacky zebra from the wall before pulling it off. behind the picture was a key for the next pad lock. "Finally..." She sighed feeling exhausted.

Making her way back to the main room she stood before the third hallway. "This better be the last one..." She closed her eyes for a moment before inserting the key into the padlock, watching it open.


	7. Chapter 7

**Authors Note:**Hey everyone! Welcome to the latest chapter! I hope you're all really enjoying this, drop a review if you did, I really do love hearing from you all :D so without further ado, here's chapter 7!

The hallway before Eliza had six doors, three on the left and three on the right, but at the very end of the hallway stood a door with a large green question mark sprayed onto it followed by dozens of little question marks. That must have been her target. She had to get there.

She noticed only two of the doors had a computer system on the outside of them, and most of them had a combination lock instead. The door at the end of the hall had a clock with the glass broken out of it beside the door. Was that how she'd unlock the door?

Eliza headed inside the first room. The walls had clippings from magazines and news papers all over the room. On the left wall was a mirror, the right wall was a desk with various items on it. The floor was spray painted with the riddle for her. "You saw me where I never was and where I could not be. And yet within that very place, my face you often see. What am I?" She read aloud.

She looked over the different words on the wall. There was so many but none of them seemed to hold the answer she was looking for. "I think the answer is..." She turned to the mirror. "Reflection... how else would you see something that isn't really there, but that's the place to see its face?"

Walking over to the mirror on the wall she picked it up on the screw it was hanging on. There was nothing on the wall behind it, but on the back of the mirror itself was a code: 24-48-10. She set it down on the screw again and exited the room.

The door next to her had a combination lock, so she twisted the lock until it clicked open. Peeking in, she didn't find anything amiss. It likely wasn't safe, much like the other rooms, but she didn't see the point in not entering.

Stepping inside she looked at the wall straight ahead, it had the next riddle on the wall. She momentarily wondered how many hours she had been in the death trap; it had felt like she was in purgatory. The riddles never seemed to end, and any one could be her last riddle. She gritted her teeth and knew she had to press on.

The table to the right of her had a deck of cards lying in a perfect circle. She found this strange. Above the riddle were block letters that had been stuck to the wall saying "Riddle me this." Looking at the riddle on the wall she read it silently: "Two in a corner, 1 in a room, 0 in a house, but 1 in a shelter. What am I?"

"That's a good question..." She stared at it for a few minutes trying to make heads or tails out of it. Most of her attempts were unsuccessful.

She'd been getting better at solving the riddles the further she got in the Riddler's death traps. After a quick examination of the words she deduced the answer was 'R'. Heading into the hallway she realized she wasn't going to input the answer into a computer to open the next door. "So it must be back inside..." She turned around and re-entered the room.

Heading first to the table she examined the cards on the table, but found nothing useful. "These were just to fool me..." She sighed with a bit of annoyance; every task that consumed more of her time frustrated her to no end.

Glancing up at the "Riddle me this" on the wall she looked at the 'r' curiously. "Hmm..." She approached slowly and touched the 'R' noticing it was moveable. She pulled it down and flipped it over, finding her combination code written on the other side.

"Perfect." She nodded a bit before heading to the next door.

Eliza twisted the combination lock, opening it successfully. She dropped the 'R' to the floor, opening the door slowly to get a good look around. The room was dark and the light above flickered a bit. She slowly walked into the room, but a bad feeling consumed her as she stepped far enough inside.

The door swung closed locking behind her, and she turned to see what appeared to be a ball launcher one would use on a tennis court, but something told her tennis balls were the least of her worries. Across the room from her was a table with a box. The box itself was black, but a green question mark rested menacingly on top of it.

Eliza made a step towards the box, but noticed how her foot sunk into one of the tiles. Freezing on the spot she noted the ball launcher started up, she watched it for a moment mortified before finally out shot a disc narrowly missing her head. It wasn't a ball launcher anymore; he had modified it to shoot out CDs instead.

"Oh my God..." She stood perfectly still looking at the floor tiles. The tiles were small, and by the looks of it, some tiles were traps that set off the CD launcher.

"I hope you're good at minesweeper Miss Davenport, if you lose, the disc launcher will surely dismember you." Edward's voice taunted over the speaker.

"Actually... that was the game I was never any good at..." She decided her day couldn't possibly get worse, and then remembered she had a weapon: her scream.

She continued to tiptoe closer to the box before setting off another tile sending two discs shooting towards her. Eliza let out a scream breaking the discs before they could hit her. Reaching for the box she let out another scream as two more discs shot her way. She continued to scream aiming at the launcher until finally it flew off its supports and landed motionless on the ground. Eliza glared at it angrily for a few moments. "You can't do that! That's cheating!" Edward yelled angrily over the speaker.

"It tried to kill me! I'm going to destroy anything that's trying to kill me!" She screamed back at him losing her temper.

"I'm not opening the door for you. Cheaters automatically fail." Edward said sounding a bit like a preschooler.

Eliza wasn't in the mood at all. "Fine, keep it closed, I'll just keep screaming until the walls cave in. You know what I'm capable of now!" She leered at the camera on the wall.

Edward's angry exhale sounded over the speaker before the door unlatched. "If it wasn't for the fact this little game will be taken twice I'd leave you here... No more cheating. That's final!" He shouted before the speaker shut off with a squeak.

Eliza rolled her eyes more annoyed than terrified at the time being. She brought the box to the next door, which was connected to a computer. She opened it carefully noting a small piece of paper was inside. She unfolded the paper and read it aloud, "You heard me before, yet you hear me again. Then I die, 'till you call me again."

Looking at the computer screen for a moment she began typing the answer 'Echo' into the computer. When it flashed success she heard the door unlock itself. Eliza entered the room seeing nothing that might try to kill her. She looked around the room noticing the next riddle sprayed to the brick wall. "Each morning I appear to lie at your feet. All day I will follow, no matter how fast you run. Yet I nearly perish in the midday sun." Eliza took a moment to think about it concluding the answer must have been 'shadow'.

In her opinion the Riddler was slacking, but she decided it was better to live than criticize. She went to the final door before she would reach her target and typed into the computer 'shadow' watching the door slowly open up for her. Tacked to the wall was a light green piece of paper that had her final riddle typed on it: "A man gave one son 10 cents and another son was given 15 cents. What time is it?" Eliza stared at the paper and pulled it from the wall. "...What?" There couldn't possibly be an answer to that.

Eliza walked out to the clock above the marked door. "Maybe it's... ten fifteen?" She moved the hands of the clock and stopped at ten fifteen before trying the door; nothing.

Biting her lip she felt the sting of defeat. Was it possible she'd make it this far and get no further? She hoped not for her own sake. Being trapped in a steel mill wasn't her idea of a paradise vacation. Still, she did have the ability to use her voice if she really needed to. Eliza decided to calm down, getting frustrated wouldn't help her at all, and she knew it.

Looking down to the page she reread the riddle, "A man gave one son 10 cents and another son was given 15 cents. What time is it? Maybe the fifteen is military time making it ten to three?" she considered before reaching up to change the time to two fifty.

She sighed angrily when she tried the door again and had no success. "Starting to sweat?" Edwards's voice asked over the intercom.

"No, I'm fine." She grumbled looking over the page again.

He didn't bother her further, and she looked over the math. "Ten cents plus fifteen cents equals twenty five cents... a quarter... there is no twenty fifth hour so that's out... Although there are two boys... I wonder." She looked up at the clock again.

Changing the hands so they stopped at one forty five she heard the door click open. Her heart jumped, she did it, or so she thought she had. Slowly she opened the door and peered inside. She was greeted with what seemed to be a whole wall of monitors, three keyboards, and three computer towers sitting on a cluttered desk. Walking fully inside, she approached the desk curiously. A file was lying open on the desk. Eliza looked it over noting it was information on Dr. Nathan Sparrows, such as address, SIN number, contact information in case of emergency, and photocopies of his driver's licence.

Before Eliza could touch the file she heard the click of a gun behind her, and the door closing. Turning slowly she locked eyes with a tall man with dark circles under his eyes, a golden cane in one hand and a black pistol in the other. "Congratulations Miss Davenport, you have completed my game... again." A hint of venom resided in his voice.

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	8. Chapter 8

**Authors Note**: Here's the next chapter you guys! I hope you enjoy it! Be sure to leave a review telling me how you like it :D

**Chapter 8**

His ginger coloured hair was tussled and slightly overgrown; it stuck out from beneath the green bowler hat he wore. Eliza raised both hands. "I did, I made it out. What about our deal Edward? You gave your word." She reminded trying to keep calm.

"I don't need your help." He said coldly.

"You're right, you don't need my help. You are more than capable of doing all of this on your own, but I want to help you. I can't let him get away with what he's done. Not just to us, but those women that he tested on before he got to me." Eliza's eyes were sunken in slightly, and like him she too had dark circles under her eyes.

"I never would have figured a goodie-two-shoes like you would want to harm another human being. I don't think you are telling the truth. I think you are just saying all of these things to get out of here with your life." He looked into her eyes darkly.

His brown fingerless gloves gripped around the gun tightly. There was no way of getting the gun away from him at her distance, and he knew it. "If that's what you think then you aren't the genius you think you are." She challenged.

Edward gritted his teeth and moved a step closer to her threateningly. "Don't you dare question me. Your primitive brain stands no chance against mine."

"Then tell me what to do to get him. I'll do anything you ask. He stole my life from me, and I just want it back... so long as he is walking these streets, I'm trapped. All I want is my freedom again." She urged, her eyes illuminating the truth.

Edward decided not to question it, if she was going to take orders from him then he saw no harm in it. Regardless she was no threat to him. Pointing with his gun towards the computer chair he looked back at her. "Sit down in that chair, very slowly." Eliza carefully sat down resting her arms on the chair arms.

"Next I want you to turn around and open the left top drawer of the desk." He watched her slowly spin around and open the drawer nervously.

She saw two pairs of hand cuffs sitting inside. "Take those out, and attach one pair to one wrist, then do the same with the other."

Eliza did as instructed and looked up at him again, "Now snap them to the arms of the chair. Hurry up." He told her still pointing his gun at her face.

The click sound they made was satisfaction to Edward's ears. He watched her test the cuffs showing she was tied down. "Now what?" She asked feeling a bit nervous this was going to turn into a mobster movie interrogation scene.

Edward pulled up a metal chair like the ones around the steel mill and sat before her. "Tell me about the collar around your neck. I demand to know what it does and why you could break things with a single scream."

Eliza relaxed a bit; he wasn't going to torture her, it seemed, at least not yet. "Dr. Sparrows asked me on a project as some sort of a 'break' from the neurology project. Seeing how everyone else working on it was dead besides him and I, it seemed a logical decision. Upon joining the project, I was told Dr. Sparrows' intention was to create a weapon that wouldn't kill anyone that police officers could use. In his original design he showed me, the collar was removable, and police officers could use them instead of guns. The idea sounded wonderful to me, so I signed on immediately."

Edward was a wonderful listener, he didn't interrupt at all, and stared at her intently with intrigue. His gun had lowered significantly, and it was clear he had no more intentions of shooting her. Eliza paused for a moment thinking about the night she showed up after seven to meet with the rest of the team. "When I got to the lab to work on the project, I was drugged. When I woke up I was imprisoned with the intent of being used as the final test subject for the collar. The collar had been put on two other women before me only to be ripped off leaving them either dead or paralyzed. This collar I'm wearing connects to my spinal cord, and to my voice box. It alters me so I can hit octaves normal humans can't, and it gives me the ability to shoot a sonic boom which you've seen thus far. If the collar is removed I'll die." She explained to him, feeling slightly vulnerable telling him about it.

Eyeing the siren collar at the base of her neck for a moment he noted it was embedded into her skin, almost painfully so. He rested both hands on the top of his question marked cane, the gun pointed away from her now. Glancing above it he noticed a collar held on by a padlock. "You said he controls you with a shock collar." He reached out and gripped it loosely, causing her breath to catch in her throat. "This would be the one, correct?"

Eliza nodded a bit, "Yes. He wanted me to come here, beat your game, use my collar on you, and then kill you." She reiterated.

A low menacing chuckle came from Edwards's throat as he smirked with slight amusement. "What a weasel of a man, thinking he could actually defeat me." He looked at Eliza's face again. "Some people are simply born idiots."

Eliza had nothing to say to that. Edward's opinion of himself was ridiculously high. No one seemed to compare, but she did agree, Dr. Sparrows was an idiot for all the pain he had caused them.

"I suppose you want this shock collar off then." He got up from the stool and walked over to his toolbox.

Eliza's chest loosened a bit at the very premise of him removing the collar. He left his gun in the corner on the wooden work bench. He sat back down in front of her with a look of pure amusement on his face, his cane lying across his lap. "I know who would look much more dashing wearing this." He smirked, inserting a pick into the bottom of the lock, along with a bobby pin.

It felt weird sitting in the same room as the man who had just tried to kill her two months ago. He had caused her a lot of mental trauma, and yet here he was doing something to aid her, his face not even a foot away from her own face. He seemed fairly concentrated on picking the lock, and it gave her a moment to look him over.

Edward had changed a lot from the last time she had seen him. His hair wasn't short and well attended to, he had let it grow out at least three inches. His eyes held a look of madness despite his blue orbs. His smooth skin had aged slightly, and stubble seemed to be growing along his face. The years hadn't been horrible to him, but they hadn't helped him either.

After fifteen minutes of him picking the lock she heard it unlatch. He pulled off the lock and opened the iron ring before pulling it off her neck. "There. Now he has no control over you any longer." He looked at her face again. "You said he wanted me dead, well then that's what we'll let him think." He chuckled with dark amusement before standing up again.

He approached the work bench in the corner with his cane in hand. Edward turned back to her for a moment. "Be patient, this will take a little while."

Eliza watched as he began disassembling his cane effortlessly. That was one thing she remembered him being very good at, building. She sighed waiting silently as he worked away. Despite the handcuffs she was glad to be sitting; she finally was getting a moment to herself.

Close to half an hour passed, and silence filled the air. They had nothing to talk about, so it wasn't exactly awkward silence. She glanced over when he turned back to her. "What do you want me to do?" Eliza looked up at his face.

"Your job is simple. Give Dr. Sparrows my cane, and assure him that you killed me. Once you're in his vicinity push down on the question mark, and exit the room. My cane is filled with a knockout gas. Bring Dr. Sparrows back here when he's out. He will only be incapacitated for half an hour." He grabbed keys from the drawer and uncuffed her wrists.

Edward pulled her earpiece off, dropping it on the desk before putting a new earpiece on her. "This one connects straight to me. I'll be able to hear everything you say, and communicate with you once you're past my transmission blocker. Tell me when you've returned."

Eliza took the cane he held out to her. "All right. How do I leave?" She asked, looking up at him.

Edward walked over to the door on the east wall, opening the tattered white door. "Through here. Return quickly." He said. "By the way..."

Eliza looked up at him curiously. "Yes?"

"Who was the other doctor who helped Dr. Sparrows operate on you? I know the man's not a surgeon." Edward raised a brow curiously over his rectangular framed glasses.

"Dr. Helm." She confirmed.

Edward made a thoughtful face before nodding. "Might as well bring him too if you can."

Eliza nodded, heading through the doorway only to have her arm grabbed swiftly, "If the police show up here, you will be responsible for every officer dead. Understood?" He hissed pointedly in her ear.

"Got it." She nodded, desperate to leave.

He pushed her slightly forward as he let go. Eliza carried the cane carefully as she made it out of the steel mill from behind the building. Heading back to the front of the building, she noted Dr. Helm was still parked waiting for her; this time Dr. Sparrows was sitting in the passenger seat. The occurrence could not have been more appropriately timed.

Getting in the back seat of the car once again she closed the door behind her. "Mr. Nigma is dead?" Dr. Sparrows asked curiously.

"Yes." Eliza stated simply.

"They're both in the car? Cough for yes, stay silent for no." Edward said in her earpiece.

Eliza let out a forced cough, and Edward began to laugh. "How perfect... do it now. Even if you're in the car I'll come and retrieve you myself."

"You brought his cane as proof... wonderful work Eliza, I knew you'd be the best weapon against him. We'll get onto your next task once we get back to the office." Dr. Sparrows smiled with relief. "Hand it over, I want to look at it."

Eliza pressed down on the cane before handing it to Dr. Sparrows. Within seconds she caught whiff of an odd scent in the air. Dr. Helm was the first to pass out before Dr. Sparrows began to follow. "What is... ugh..." His eyes slid shut, falling asleep with his head back against the seat.

Eliza tried to grab the handle but it refused to open. "Edward, they're...out..." without another word she too passed out.

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	9. Chapter 9

**Authors****Note**: Welcome to the final chapter of this story, but don't fear... I have another story after this, and it only gets more interesting there... Please read and review, I love to hear from you all!

**Chapter 9**

Eliza woke half expecting to be in another death trap, but to her great surprise she was lying on the empty work bench in the Riddler's computer room at the steel mill. She groaned and glanced over at the computer chair to see Edward sitting in his chair, his cane between his legs glancing over at her, "Welcome back, I now have both rats in the trap." He informed her amused.

Sitting up, she slid off the table and walked over to the computer to see Dr. Sparrows and Dr. Helm lying on the floor of the main room of the steel mill. Eliza noted the shock collar was around Dr. Sparrows' neck. Looking from the screen to Edward she nodded. "My job is done then?"

Edward looked back at the screen with a smile, "Had I known they were so close, I could have done it myself, but yes, your job is done." He held the shock collar button and pressed it watching as Dr. Sparrows shot up with a yell of pain.

Despite herself the turning of the tables gave Eliza a twinge of satisfaction. "Wakey, wakey Dr. Sparrows." Edward said over the speaker.

Dr. Sparrows looked up at the screen, his face paled immediately as he realized his predicament. "N-No! Edward we can fix this, I have money." He tried looking up at the camera.

"Oh don't worry Nathan, I have money. Lots of money. What I want is something only you can give me." Edward said staring coldly into the camera.

"Where is Eliza? Is she here?" He asked sounding almost hopeful.

Eliza was pulled closer so she could be seen on the camera, "Of course she's here, she chose the right team to play on too... unlike you," He said darkly.

Dr. Helm started to wake up after a bit. "So here are the rules: make it through my challenges and you can live, but to make the game more amusing..." Edward pressed the button on the shock collar. "Every ten minutes I'll be pressing this little button here. Doesn't that sound like fun?" He asked sarcastically.

Dr. Sparrows yelled with pain at the shock. "Please stop this!" He begged.

Eliza leaned towards the microphone. "Like when I asked you to stop, but you put this collar on me anyway?! You can rot in this death trap you piece of shit..." She stood up, her eyes watering a bit as she walked off camera.

"Good luck, Dr. Sparrows, I look forward to seeing which trap kills you first." With that he pressed a button, ending his camera and microphone feed. "There, done." He looked up at her.

"Can I go home now?" She asked him, feeling torn between relief of stopping his reign of terror and regret for her actions.

"You may." He nodded. "As I said before though, no funny business or you won't be laughing."

Eliza looked at him and nodded. "Goodbye Edward."

"Goodbye Eliza." he dismissed simply before turning his attention back to the computer monitor where Dr. Sparrows rifled through the contents of the table in the main room in search of a weapon.

Edward watched her walk out and allowed his full attention to rest upon Dr. Sparrows and the newly roused Dr. Helm. It only took four more shocks on the collar before Edward watched Dr. Sparrows and Dr. Helm make their way to the second hallway. He switched off the lights in the gasoline room and watched them wander in with a match book. Once the first match in Dr. Sparrows' fingers got too close to his fingers he dropped it on the floor, setting both he and Dr. Helm on fire.

The Riddler laughed darkly. "Oh, Nathan, you were on fire with these riddles! Now you're just on fire!" He laughed, watching them scream and burn before his eyes.

It took several minutes before both bodies quit twitching. It wasn't until he was sure they were dead before he decided to go and check on the bodies of his two dead victims.

The following day Edward Nigma drove himself to the airport. No one questioned him as he took the car he had stolen months ago with replaced licence plates he had made. He had completed his task in town, and it was time to spend some time away from GothamCity, until everything there blew over anyhow. He had his fake passport and his luggage packed and ready to go to the beautiful city of Paris, France. Nothing could have felt more dignifying than winning at his own game.

The airport was surprisingly empty when he arrived. He made his way through security and right to his gate. Security didn't give him a second look as he seemed to have passed with flying colours. Off to Paris for the Riddler!

Looking out the window at the beautiful city he was leaving behind, he promised himself in a few years he'd return, and test the Batman with his death traps. It seemed like an interesting idea, and on his time away he surely would think up plenty of ideas for Batman.

It seemed with all of his foes out of the way he could recover from his humiliation, and move on with his life. He enjoyed the thrill of stealing, and murder. It made his life much more exciting, and the best part: no one could stop him.

The announcement informed him his flight was now boarding. Clutching his carry-on he headed to the line-up. It wasn't a large line-up, but it only meant he wouldn't be overcrowded on his flight.

"That's him over there..." The murmur caught his attention, making him look to his left.

Mortified he watched as the commissioner and eight officers made their way over to him. "No... This can't be happening..." He seethed before tossing his carry-on aside running past the crowd of people hoping to make it out of the building.

"After him!" Commissioner Gordon yelled pointing.

The officers chased him, but despite his lack of muscle, Edward Nigma could run. He managed to outrun most of the officers before something swung down from the tall airport ceiling wrapping around his legs, sending him crashing to the floor. "No! This can't be happening! There was no way you could have caught me! How did you know I was here!?" He screamed angrily.

Bullock grabbed his arms, cuffing him as Batman swung down from the ceiling and removed the rope from his legs. "Thanks Batman." Commissioner Gordon smiled looking at him.

The officers took the screaming Riddler away almost effortlessly despite his struggling. "How did you figure out here was here anyhow?" Gordon looked up at him.

Batman held up a small grey notebook. "I found this in Eliza Davenport's apartment the night she first was kidnapped by Nigma. She had managed to decipher all of the riddles he'd left behind at his crime scenes. One of the riddles turned out to reveal his plans to fly to Paris down to the very time and date of his flight. Not even Nigma was expecting that I'm sure." He spoke hoarsely to Gordon.

Jim Gordon looked over the contents of the notebook impressed. "Wow... who would have thought we'd catch him over something like this. I'm glad you figured it out Batman." As Commissioner Gordon looked up again Batman was gone. He just smiled and nodded to himself; it was to be expected.

The commissioner headed out to the police car outside where Edward Nigma continued to scream loudly, throwing out insults as he continued his tantrum. "You can't do this to me! I'm a genius! You're all just a bunch of morons!"

Gordon stood beside Bullock, looking at Edward struggle as the door was closed on him, muffling his insanities. "I feel bad for the guy who gets to drive him to the station." Bullock commented.

Gordon nodded slightly amused. "I'll be sure to treat him and his family to dinner." He looked at Bullock "Let's head down to the station, we'll have him shipped off to Arkham in a few days."

Bullock nodded and followed him to the police car, "Right away." He said as Edward's muffled screams still echoed from inside another police cruiser.

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